Joint Master's Programme in Health Informatics, 120 credits

The Master’s Programme in Health Informatics is aimed at students who are interested in information technology and its application to medicine or healthcare. You will learn methods to make healthcare safer, more efficient and of higher quality through computer-based information and knowledge management. This Master’s programme is given as a joint programme between Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University.

Students may have their initial training in either health care or a technical discipline.

IT implementation in healthcare requires people with a solid understanding of both the needs of the healthcare sector and the strengths and limitations of technology. A health informatician’s unique interdisciplinary expertise makes him/her particularly suited to assume a coordinating and bridging role between these two areas. Many health informaticians work as project managers. Other common roles are CMIO (Chief Medical Information Officer) or CCIO (Chief Clinical Information Officer), IT managers, clinical informaticians, application experts, requirements analysts, system specialists, system developers, interaction designers, evaluators and researchers. Many also start own companies.

The first semester establishes a common ground, where students with technical backgrounds take courses in basic medical sciences, health care organisation and management, while students with healthcare backgrounds study basic computer and systems sciences. The first semester ends with a joint course in health care information systems.

The second semester covers basic health informatics methods for user needs and requirements engineering, methods for evaluating different aspects of health information systems during and after implementation, as well as health informatics standards. Further, students will get an introduction into data science methods and have a course on scientific methods at advanced level.

The third semester provides an introduction to project management where previously studied data science methods will be applied in project form. Further, students have the choice of either a course in information security or entrepreneurship. They will also get insight into current research topics in health informatics through a course preparing students for own scientific studies.

The fourth and final semester consists of a thesis in which students carry out a larger scientific study.

“Health Informatics is everything that has to do with collecting information, structuring information, analysing it and visualising it within the area of health and health care."

Professor Sabine Koch works at the Karolinska Institutet as the Programme Director of the Joint Master’s Programme in Health Informatics given by Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University. She has over 20 years of experience in the field of Health Informatics.

“Health Informatics is a fast growing business and the market needs a lot of health Informaticians working within eHealth and digital health in the years to come,” says Sabine. Read the article here

Student Bloggers

Get the insight info about the programme by talking to our students! Student ambassadors from The Master’s Programme in Health Informatics are blogging about the programme, and they are happy to answer any questions you might have.
You’ll find our blogging students here:

More information about the programme

To qualify for this programme, you need to have a Bachelor's degree or a professional degree equivalent to a Swedish Bachelor's degree of at least 180 credits in healthcare, biomedicine, medical technology, computer and systems sciences, informatics or the equivalent.

The University Admission web site contains all the information you need to be able to apply: key dates, documents you need to upload etc, and the staff will assist you with issues regarding the admission process.

Get a unique experience!

Apply for exchange studies during your education at DSV!

During your 3rd semester, you have the opportunity to apply for exchange studies. DSV has agreements with approximately forty universities around the world, for example in Taipei, Shanghai, Munich, Barcelona, Athens and more.

Take the opportunity to learn about other cultures, develop a language and gain advantages in the labour market by applying for exchange studies.